


Tying Up Loose Ends

by irisbleufic



Series: Delicate, Dangerous, Obsessed [20]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Established Relationship, Exhibitionism, Flirting, Killing, Knives, M/M, Murder Husbands, Nygmobblepot Week 2017, POV Edward Nygma, Psychopaths In Love, Revenge, Showing Off, Villains, Weird Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-31 00:53:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12120999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisbleufic/pseuds/irisbleufic
Summary: “Victor has a surprise for us,” [Oswald] replied. “Well, a surprise foryou. I confess it was my idea.”Edward pondered this, scribbling out the fleet of question-marks, leaving their heart-enclosed initials.“Are you sure Ivy's going to be okay with us using the greenhouse for an execution?” he asked happily.[Can be read as stand-alone, but directly followsLearning Our Names.  For Day 1:Murder Husbandsof Nygmobblepot Week.]





	Tying Up Loose Ends

Edward leaned hard into the limousine door, using his gloved index finger to write on the frost-rimed glass. He tightened his other arm around Oswald, who was dozing against his shoulder. They hadn't even been in the car for five minutes, and the ride would only last ten.

“I don't get the point of this excursion,” he yawned, staring out the window. “We're still jet-lagged.”

Oswald lifted his head, studying Edward's punctuation-heavy handiwork with fond bafflement.

“Victor has a surprise for us,” he replied. “Well, a surprise for _you_. I confess it was my idea.”

Edward pondered this, scribbling out the fleet of question-marks, leaving their heart-enclosed initials.

“Are you sure Ivy's going to be okay with us using the greenhouse for an execution?” he asked happily.

“She agreed to it on the grounds that she and the girls get to watch,” Oswald said. “Fish told them about [the precision of your aim with that knife](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11624541/chapters/27443928), and now they'd like a demonstration.”

“Might have been luck,” Edward sighed, but he felt a swell of pride nonetheless. “I was rescuing you.”

“Don't think so, Ed,” Caroline volunteered through the half-open divider. “You're good with a blade.”

“You have to remember I didn't _throw_ it,” said Edward, peevishly. “I lunged to land the blow.”

“A knife in the eye is a knife in the eye,” Caroline replied. “We know people who could teach you.”

“Reminds me of [when you shot Thirio for me](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10605213/chapters/24568686), come to think of it,” Edward murmured in Oswald's ear.

“ _That_ shot was an accident,” Oswald muttered darkly. “I was aiming for between his eyes.”

Edward shrugged, dipping to kiss Oswald's neck just to feel him shiver. “Fortuitous errors all around.”

“Friendly reminder that we're almost there, boss,” Caroline cautioned, pointedly closing the divider.

“You heard her,” Oswald said, taking Edward's face in both hands, leaning with a wink. “Don't start.”

Edward got his fill of promises for later, at least, by the time they pulled into the drive at Maison d'Ivy.

“Thanks for comin' out this early, chief,” said Zsasz, waiting outside Ivy's front door. “He won't last.”

“You might have taken care to keep him in better condition,” Oswald chided, offering Edward his arm.

“You can only keep 'em so long after you do _that_ kind of number,” Zsasz said, holding the door.

“At those odds, I expect heavy blood loss,” Edward replied, nodding to greet the trio in the living room.

“Hi, Pengy!” said Ivy, dislodging Edward from Oswald's elbow so she could hug him. “I missed ya!”

Oswald patted her on the back, permitting the embrace to last for much longer than Edward expected.

“Edward's the one who [thought to send a postcard](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11624541/chapters/26536602), so perhaps your affection is misplaced,” he said.

Ivy let go of Oswald and turned to Edward, arms spread. She _did_ look good in his old trousers.

“Ed, you're the _best_ ,” she gushed, hesitating for a moment. “Is this a hug kinda day or not?”

“Whatever,” Edward said, permitting her to latch onto him. “Three seconds. Knock yourself out.”

Ivy squeezed Edward before releasing him, punctuating the pressure with a squeak. “Have fun?”

“Yes,” Edward admitted, cracking a half-smile as Selina and Bridgit approached. “I had a blast.”

“You'd find anything fun as long as you got to off someone,” Selina said, arms folded. “Hiya, Ed.”

Bridgit stepped in reluctantly, elbowing Ivy aside. “Thanks for letting me use the kitchen,” she said.

“Olga gets back tomorrow,” Oswald said, watching as Edward tolerated another hug. “Thank _her_.”

“This reunion's sweet and all, very touching,” Zsasz sighed, “but I'd like to haul away the body ASAP.”

“Just follow me,” Ivy said, skipping ahead of them. “Didn't even have to give him anything to keep him quiet,” she said, glancing over her black-velvet-covered shoulder as the rest of them followed.

“He's _been_ quiet for at least twenty-four hours now,” Zsasz pointed out, bringing up the rear.

“Did he tell you whether there are others we should be worried about,” Oswald asked, “or was he the sole informant serving what remains of the Maroni operation in Europe?”

“He insisted he was the only one,” said Zsasz, bemusedly. “No matter how many fingernails I pulled.”

“That's pretty damn trippy,” Selina remarked with a whistle, “given it looks like you took all of 'em.”

“Did you let him feel it, or did you go for, like, the psych-horror version instead?” Bridgit asked Zsasz.

“Nah, didn't use anesthetic this time to keep it strictly visual,” Zsasz replied. “We played it old-school.”

“Fitting,” Edward said, quickening his steps to keep up with Oswald as they entered the greenhouse.

Ivy followed Zsasz to the figure bound to a wheelchair. She took a syringe off the edge of the nearest table full of seedlings, uncapping it.

Zsasz whipped the bag off his prisoner's head—dark-haired, unshaven, dehydrated—while Ivy plunged the needle into his neck.

Edward studied the prisoner's ruined fingertips, removing the switchblade from his pocket. It was a relief to have his own blade back. The one he'd used in Monte Carlo was at the bottom of Monaco Harbor.

The Maroni informant gasped loudly, his eyes fluttering open. He studied the assembled party with delirious confusion, eyes lingering on Edward and Oswald, who stood directly in front of him.

“Guess this is it,” he rasped between cracked lips, breaking into a smile. “Funny seein' you alive.”

“What's funny,” Edward said, flicking the blade open, “is that you thought you'd get away with it.”

The man shrugged, shifting his clouded gaze to Oswald. “You woulda done the same in our shoes.”

“Maybe,” said Oswald, winsomely. “Or maybe I would've cut my losses and left well enough alone.”

Off to one side, Selina snickered impatiently while Bridgit maintained an impressively straight face.

“So this is how it is?” asked the prisoner, glaring at Edward. “Penguin, the King of Gotham, lets his nobody of a gold-digging consort make his kills for him? In the old days, we never woulda—”

Consumed by fury, Edward made his strike before Oswald's anger even had the chance to boil over.

“Shit,” Selina blurted, shuffling up to examine the prisoner as he slumped forward. “You're fast.”

Edward smirked as Oswald wrapped Edward's arm back around his own, far too pleased to respond.

“That was definitely worth having somebody die back here,” said Ivy, cheerfully. “Nice work, Ed.”

Zsasz set two fingers against the end of the switchblade's handle, using it to push the dead man's head back against she chair. “If you wanna learn how to throw, Riddler, just say the word.”

“Maybe,” Edward said, turning to wink at Oswald. “Right now, I think I'd _rather_ go home."


End file.
